Torre dei Capocci

Torre dei Capocci, along the opposite Torre dei Graziani, constitutes a kind of monumental entrance to top of the hill Esquilino.[2] Built by the family of Arcioni in the 12th century, it afterwards went to the Capoccis, a noble family from Viterbo, these erected around the tower a number of houses, which no longer exist, but which made the building a sort of citadel. The tower, 36 meters high, has a square base, has windows framed in travertine and consists of seven floors, in addition to the ground floor and the terrace, the latter bordered by a brick parapet, edged by five full battlements on each side, emerges where the output hopper of the staircase.

1.
San Martino ai Monti
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San Martino ai Monti, officially known as Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti, is a minor basilica in Rome, Italy, in the Rione Monti neighbourhood. It is located near the edge of the Parque de Monte Oppio, near the corner of Via Equizia and Viale del Monte Oppio, the current Cardinal Priest with title to the basilica is Kazimierz Nycz, the Archbishop of Warsaw. Among the previous titulars are Alfonso de la Cueva, Saint Joseph Mary Tomasi, C. R. Pope Pius XI, Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, O. S. B. and Gianbattista Montini, later Blessed Paul VI. The basilica was founded by Pope St. Sylvester I on a site donated by one Equitius in the 4th century, at the beginning it was an oratory devoted to all the martyrs. It is known that a meeting in preparation for the Council of Nicaea was held here in 324, the current church of San Martino ai Monti dates from the Carolingian era, but remains of a 3rd-century pillared hall have been located below and adjacent to it. Was probably to serve as a space for commercial purposes. In 500, the church was rebuilt and dedicated to Saints Martin of Tours, on this occasion, the church was elevated and the first oratory became subterranean. It was reconstructed by Pope Hadrian I in 772 and by Pope Sergius II in 845, the structure of the present basilica follows the ancient church, and many pieces had been re-used. During the Investiture Controversy and the Gregorian Reforms, the priest of San Martino, Beno, the inscriptions found in S. Martino ai Monti, a valuable source illustrating the history of the Basilica, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The basilica is served by the Carmelite friars and it was granted to them in 1299 by Pope Boniface VIII, their ownership was confirmed in 1559. This basilica is the place of the Blessed Angelo Paoli. Who was revered throughout Rome for his service of the poor, the interior has a nave and two aisles, divided by ancient columns. A votive lamp, made in sheet and housed in the sacristy, was believed to be St. Sylvesters tiara. Under the major altar are preserved the relics of Saints Artemius, Paulina and Sisinnius, a mosaic portraying Madonna with St Sylvester is from the 6th century. Further transformations were executed in the 17th century by Filippo Gagliardi, there is a fresco by Jan Miel of St Cyril baptizing a sultan. Fabrizio Chiari painted a Baptism of Christ, giannangiolo Canini painted an altarpiece of Holy Trinity with Saints Nicola and Bartholemew. The Mannerist painter Girolamo Muziano provided an altarpiece of St. Albert, cannini also painted the Martydom of St. Stephen. Chiari also painted St Martin Sharing his Cloak with the Beggar, giovanni Battista Crespi is the author of a Vision of St Teresa, while the altarpiece of Vision of Santa Maria Maddalena de Pazzi was executed by Matteo Piccione

2.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth

3.
Esquiline Hill
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The Esquiline Hill is one of the celebrated Seven Hills of Rome. Its southern-most cusp is the Oppius, the origin of the name Esquilino is still under much debate. One view is that the Hill was named after the abundance of Italian oaks, aesculi, according to Livy, the settlement on the Esquiline was expanded during the reign of Servius Tullius, Romes sixth king, in the 6th century BC. The king also moved his residence to the Hill, in order to increase its respectability and it contained terraces, libraries and other aspects of Roman culture. At the Oppius, Nero confiscated property to build his extravagant, mile-long Golden House, the 3rd century AD Horti Liciniani, a group of gardens, were probably constructed on the Esquiline Hill. Farther to the northeast, at the summit of the Cispius, is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the famous Esquiline Treasure, now in the British Museum, was found on the Esquiline Hill. The tiny hamlet of El Esquilinchuche in Honduras is named after the Esquiline Hill

4.
Viterbo
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See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo University. For the municipality in Colombia, see Viterbo, Caldas Viterbo listen is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy and it conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento in its early history. It is approximately 80 kilometres north of GRA on the Via Cassia, the historic center of the city is surrounded by medieval walls, still intact, built during the 11th and 12th centuries. Entrance to the center of the city is through ancient gates. Apart from agriculture, the resources of Viterbos area are pottery, marble. The town is home to the Italian gold reserves, an important Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Tuscia, and it is located in a wide thermal area, attracting many tourists from the whole of central Italy. The first report of the new city dates to the eighth century CE and it was fortified in 773 by the Lombard King Desiderius in his vain attempt to conquer Rome. In 1164, Frederick Barbarossa made Viterbo the seat of his antipope Paschal III, three years later he gave it the title of city and used its militias against Rome. In 1172, Viterbo started its expansion, destroying the old city of Ferento, in this age it was a rich and prosperous comune, one of the most important of Central Italy, with a population of almost 60,000. In 1207, Pope Innocent III held a council in the cathedral, in 1210, however, Viterbo managed to defeat Emperor Otto IV and was again at war against Rome. In the thirteenth century it was ruled alternately by the tyrants of the Gatti, Frederick II drew Viterbo to the Ghibelline side in 1240, but when the citizens expelled his turbulent German troops in 1243 he returned and besieged the city, but in vain. From that point Viterbo was always a loyal Guelph city, between 1257 and 1261 it was the seat of Pope Alexander IV, who also died there. His successor Urban IV was elected in Viterbo, in 1266–1268, Clement IV chose Viterbo as the base of his ruthless fight against the Hohenstaufen. Here, from the loggia of the palace, he excommunicated the army of Conradin of Swabia which was passing on the Via Cassia. Other popes elected in Viterbo were Gregory X and John XXI, Nicholas III and they were subsequently excommunicated, and the popes avoided Viterbo for 86 years. Without the popes, the city fell into the hands of the Di Vicos, in the fourteenth century, Giovanni di Vico had created a seignory extending to Civitavecchia, Tarquinia, Bolsena, Orvieto, Todi, Narni and Amelia. His dominion was crushed by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz in 1354, sent by the Avignonese popes to recover the Papal States, but Pope Boniface IXs troops drove him away in 1396 and established a firm papal suzerainty over the city. The last Di Vico to hold power in Viterbo was Giacomo, thenceforth Viterbo became a city of secondary importance, following the vicissitudes of the Papal States

5.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

6.
Pons Cestius
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The Pons Cestius is a Roman stone bridge in Rome, Italy, spanning the Tiber to the west of the Tiber Island. The original version of bridge was built around the 1st century BC, after the Pons Fabricius. The Pons Cestius is the first bridge that reached the bank of Tiber from the Tiber Island. Several prominent members of the Cestii clan from the 1st century BC are known, in the 4th century the Pons Cestius was rebuilt by the Emperors Valentinian I, Valens and Gratian and re-dedicated in 370 as the Pons Gratiani. The bridge was rebuilt using tuff and peperino, with a facing of travertine, some of the rebuilding material came from the demolished porticus of the nearby Theatre of Marcellus. During the building of the walls along the embankment in 1888–1892. The ancient bridge, which had two arches, was simply not long enough. A new bridge, with three arches, was constructed in its stead, with its central arch reusing about two-thirds of the original material. List of Roman bridges Roman architecture Roman engineering O’Connor, Colin

7.
Pons Fabricius
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The Pons Fabricius or Ponte dei Quattro Capi, is the oldest Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, still existing in its original state. Built in 62 BC, it spans half of the Tiber River, Quattro Capi refers to the two marble pillars of the two-faced Janus herms on the parapet, which were moved here from the nearby Church of St Gregory in the 14th century. According to Dio Cassius, the bridge was built in 62 BC and it was commissioned by Lucius Fabricius, the curator of the roads and a member of the gens Fabricia of Rome. Completely intact from Roman antiquity, it has been in use ever since. The Pons Fabricius has a length of 62 m, and is 5.5 m wide and it is constructed from two wide arches, supported by a central pillar in the middle of the stream. Its core is constructed of tuff and its outer facing today is made of bricks and travertine. An original inscription on the travertine commemorates its builder in Latin and it is repeated four times, on each arch, on both sides of the bridge. A later inscription, in lettering, records that the bridge was later restored under Pope Innocent XI. List of Roman bridges Roman architecture Roman engineering O’Connor, Colin, Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, p

8.
Ponte Milvio
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The Milvian Bridge is a bridge over the Tiber in northern Rome, Italy. It was an economically and strategically important bridge in the era of the Roman Empire and was the site of the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge. A bridge was built by consul Gaius Claudius Nero in 206 BC after he had defeated the Carthaginian army in the Battle of the Metaurus, in 115 BC, consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus built a new bridge of stone in the same position, demolishing the old one. In 63 BC, letters from the conspirators of the Catiline conspiracy were intercepted here, in AD312, Constantine I defeated his stronger rival Maxentius between this bridge and Saxa Rubra, in the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge. During the Middle Ages, the bridge was renovated by a monk named Acuzio, during the 18th and 19th centuries, the bridge was modified by two architects, Giuseppe Valadier and Domenico Pigiani. The bridge was damaged in 1849 by Garibaldis troops, in an attempt to block a French invasion. In 2000s, the bridge began attracting couples, who use a lamppost on the bridge to attach love padlocks as a token of love, the ritual involves the couple locking the padlock to the lamppost, then throwing the key behind them into the Tiber. The ritual was invented by author Federico Moccia for his popular book, after April 13,2007, couples had to stop this habit because that day the lamppost, due to the weight of all padlocks, partially collapsed. However, couples decided to attach their padlocks elsewhere, in fact, all around the bridge, road posts and even garbage bins have been used to place these love padlocks. As an online replacement, a web site has been created allowing couples to use virtual padlocks, in 2007, the mayor of Rome introduced a 50 euro fine on couples found attaching padlocks to the bridge. Similar love padlocks traditions have appeared in Italy and the rest of Europe, in September 2012, the city council decided to remove all padlocks by force. There was a risk that the bridge would collapse under the weight. List of Roman bridges Roman architecture Roman engineering O’Connor, Colin, Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-39326-4 Media related to Ponte Milvio at Wikimedia Commons Pons Mulvius at Structurae Ritual draws sweethearts to Rome bridge article describing the padlock ritual Google Map

9.
Ponte Sant'Angelo
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The bridge is faced with travertine marble and spans the Tiber with five arches, three of which are Roman, it was approached by means of ramp from the river. The bridge is now solely pedestrian, and provides a vista of the Castel SantAngelo. It links the rioni of Ponte, and Borgo, to whom the bridge administratively belongs, dante writes in his Comedy that during the jubilee of 1300, due to the large number of pilgrims going and coming from Saint Peter, two separate lanes were arranged on the bridge. During the 1450 jubilee, balustrades of the bridge yielded, due to the crowds of the pilgrims. In response, some houses at the head of the bridge as well as a Roman triumphal arch were pulled down in order to widen the route for pilgrims. For centuries after the 16th century, the bridge was used to expose the bodies of the executed in the nearby Piazza di Ponte, in 1669 Pope Clement IX commissioned replacements for the aging stucco angels by Raffaello da Montelupo, commissioned by Paul III. They are now in the church of SantAndrea delle Fratte, also in Rome, for the Great Jubilee in 2000, the Lungotevere on the right bank between the bridge and the castle became a pedestrian area. List of Roman bridges Roman architecture Roman engineering Notes Sources O’Connor, Colin, Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, satellite image Angels of the Passion Multimedia feature from Beliefnet. com

10.
Ponte Sisto
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Ponte Sisto is a bridge in Romes historic centre, spanning the river Tiber. It connects Via dei Pettinari in the Rione of Regola to Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere, currently traffic on the bridge is restricted to pedestrians. The Pons Antoninus was partially destroyed in 772, at the time the Lombard king Desiderius took Rome, the bridge still carries the water of the Acqua Paola across the river in eight large pipes. In 1877, two large cast-iron pedestrian gangways resting on consoles were added to the sides of the bridge

11.
Churches of Rome
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There are more than 900 churches in Rome, including some notable Roman Catholic Marian churches. Most, but not all, of these are Roman Catholic, the first churches of Rome originated in places where Christians met. Peters, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, only the tituli were allowed to distribute sacraments. The most important priest in a titulus was given the name of Cardinal, Pope Marcellus I confirmed that the tituli were the only centres of administration in the Church. Peters Basilica were referred to as the seven cardinals of S. Peters, the four basilicas had no cardinal, since they were under the direct supervision of the Pope. The Basilica of St. John Lateran was also the seat of the bishop of Rome, in the Great Jubilee in 2000, the seventh church was instead Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore as appointed by Pope John Paul II. This is a list of churches of Rome cited in Wikipedia articles or with related files on Wikimedia Commons, the churches are grouped according to the time of their initial construction, the dates are those of the first record of each church. The reader, however, should not expect the current fabric of the buildings to reflect that age, almost all the churches will thus appear considerably more recent, and as a patchwork of periods and styles. A number of interesting churches are now closed, it must be noted, except on special occasions and these include, Santa Balbina, Santi Nereo e Achilleo, San Cesareo in Palatio and SantUrbano. Architecture of Rome Religion in Rome Kehr, Paul Fridolin, Rome of the Pilgrims and Martyrs, A Study in the Martyrologies, Itineraries, Syllogae, & Other Contemporary Documents. Le chiese di Roma nel medio evo, cataloghi ed appvnti, H. W. Klewitz, Die Entstehung des Kardinalskollegiums, Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Krautheimer, R. Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae, vol, cardinalis, The History of a Canonical Concept. A Catholics Guide to Rome, Discovering the Soul of the Eternal City, thayers Churches of Rome, including the books by Christian Huelsen, Mariano Armellini, and Filippo Titi Clarkes Churches of Rome Map of titular churches

12.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome

13.
Sistine Chapel
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The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected, the fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, and most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo. In a different climate after the Sack of Rome, he returned, the fame of Michelangelos paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV in the late 15th century, there were 50 occasions during the year on which it was prescribed by the Papal Calendar that the whole Papal Chapel should meet. Of these 50 occasions,35 were masses, of which 8 were held in Basilicas, in general St. Peters and these included the Christmas Day and Easter masses, at which the Pope himself was the celebrant. The other 27 masses could be held in a smaller, less public space, the Cappella Maggiore derived its name, the Greater Chapel, from the fact that there was another chapel also in use by the Pope and his retinue for daily worship. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV, this was the Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, the Cappella Maggiore is recorded as existing in 1368. The proportions of the present chapel appear to follow those of the original. The first mass in the Sistine Chapel was celebrated on 15 August 1483, the Sistine Chapel has maintained its function to the present day, and continues to host the important services of the Papal Calendar, unless the Pope is travelling. There is a permanent choir, the Sistine Chapel Choir, for whom much original music has been written, one of the functions of the Sistine Chapel is as a venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. On the occasion of a conclave, a chimney is installed in the roof of the chapel, if white smoke appears, created by burning the ballots of the election, a new Pope has been elected. The conclave also provided for the cardinals a space in which they can hear mass, and in which they can eat, sleep, and pass time attended by servants. From 1455, conclaves have been held in the Vatican, until the Great Schism, canopies for each cardinal-elector were once used during conclaves—a sign of equal dignity. After the new Pope accepts his election, he would give his new name, at this time, until reforms instituted by Saint Pius X, the canopies were of different colours to designate which Cardinals had been appointed by which Pope. Its exterior is unadorned by architectural or decorative details, as is common in many Italian churches of the Medieval, subsidence and cracking of masonry such as must also have affected the Cappella Maggiore has necessitated the building of very large buttresses to brace the exterior walls. The accretion of other buildings has further altered the appearance of the Chapel. The building is divided into three stories of which the lowest is a tall basement level with several utilitarian windows

14.
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
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It is the oldest of and has precedence among the four papal major basilicas, all of which are in Rome, because it is the oldest church in the West and houses the cathedra of the Roman Pontiff. It has the title of ecumenical mother church of the Roman Catholic faithful, the current archpriest is Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome. The archbasilica stands over the remains of the Castra Nova equitum singularium, the fort was established by Septimius Severus in AD193. Following the victory of Emperor Constantine I over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the guard was abolished, substantial remains of the fort lie directly beneath the nave. The remainder of the site was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the palace of the gens Laterani, sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, and the Laterani served as administrators for several emperors. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the Emperor, the accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties. The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the Emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, known by that time as the Domus Faustae or House of Fausta, the Lateran Palace was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I. The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope St. Silvester I, eventually becoming the Cathedral of Rome, Pope Sylvester I presided over the official dedication of the archbasilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace in 324, declaring both to be a Domus Dei. The papal cathedra was placed in its interior, rendering it the cathedral of the Pope qua Bishop of Rome, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace were re-dedicated twice. Pope Sergius III dedicated them to St. John the Baptist in the 10th century in honor of the newly consecrated baptistry of the archbasilica, Pope Lucius II dedicated them to St. John the Evangelist in the 12th century. Consequently, the archbasilica remains dedicated to the Savior, and its titular feast is the Feast of the Transfiguration, the archbasilica became the most important shrine of the two St. Johns, albeit infrequently jointly venerated. In later years, a Benedictine monastery was established in the Lateran Palace, and was devoted to serving the archbasilica, the Lateran Palace has also been the site of five ecumenical councils. During the time the papacy was seated in Avignon, France, the Lateran Palace, two fires ravaged them in 1307 and 1361. After both fires the pope sent money from Avignon to pay for their reconstruction and maintenance, nonetheless, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace lost their former splendor. When the papacy returned from Avignon and the pope again resided in Rome, the archbasilica, the popes resided at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and later at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Eventually, the Palace of the Vatican was built adjacent to the Basilica of St. Peter, which existed since the time of Emperor Constantine I, and it has remained the official residence of the pope. The original Lateran Palace was demolished and replaced with a new edifice, on the square in front of the Lateran Palace is the largest standing obelisk in the world, known as the Lateran Obelisk. It weighs an estimated 455 tons and it was commissioned by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III and erected by Thutmose IV before the great Karnak temple of Thebes, Egypt

15.
Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano
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The Basilica of Saint Clement is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. The archaeological traces of the history were discovered in the 1860s by Joseph Mullooly. The lowest levels of the present basilica contain remnants of the foundation of a possibly republican era building that might have destroyed in the Great Fire of 64. An industrial building – probably the imperial mint of Rome from the late 1st century A. D. onwards, was built or remodelled on the site during the Flavian period. Shortly after an insula, or apartment block, was also built and it was separated from the industrial building by a narrow alleyway. About a hundred years later a mithraeum, a sanctuary of the cult of Mithras, was built in the courtyard of the insula. The main cult room, which is about 9. 6m long and 6m wide, was discovered in 1867, the exedra, the shallow apse at the far end of the low vaulted space, was trimmed with pumice to render it more cave-like. Central to the room of the sanctuary was found an altar, in the shape of a sarcophagus. The torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates appear on respectively the left and right faces of the same monument, a dedicatory inscription identifies the donor as one pater Cnaeus Arrius Claudianus, perhaps of the same clan as Titus Arrius Antoninus mother. Other monuments discovered in the include a bust of Sol kept in the sanctuary in a niche near the entrance. Fragments of statuary of the two torch bearers were also found, one of the rooms adjoining the main chamber has two oblong brickwork enclosures, one of which was used as a ritual refuse pit for remnants of the cult meal. All three monuments mentioned above are still on display in the mithraeum, a fourth monument, – a statue of St. Peter found in the speleums vestibule and still on display there – is not of the mysteries. At some time in the 4th century, the level of the industrial building was filled in with dirt and rubble. An apse was built out over part of the domus, whose lowest floor, restorations were undertaken in the 9th century and ca 1080-99. The early basilica was the site of councils presided over by Pope Zosimus and Symmachus, the last major event that took place in the lower basilica was the election in 1099 of Cardinal Rainerius of St Clemente as Pope Paschal II. Apart from those in Santa Maria Antiqua, the largest collection of Early Medieval wall paintings in Rome is to be found in the basilica of San Clemente. Clement, and on the life of St. Alexius, sisinnius encourages the servants in Italian Fili de le pute, traite. Which, translated into English means, Come on, you sons of bitches, carvoncello, give it to him from the back with the pole

16.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
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The Basilica is located at 34 Piazza dellEsquilino, some five blocks southwest of Stazione Termini. Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State and they prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, in obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later and it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. The legend is first reported only after AD1000 and it may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis, of the early 13th century, says of Pope Liberius, He built the basilica of his own name near the Macellum of Livia. Its prevalence in the 15th century is shown in the painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale. The feast was originally called Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae, and was celebrated only in Rome until inserted for the first time into the General Roman Calendar, with ad Nives added to its name, in 1568. A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office, no action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and the feast was called In dedicatione Basilicae S. Mariae. The legend is commemorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass. The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica or Santa Maria Liberiana, Liberiana is still included in some versions of the basilicas formal name, and Liberian Basilica may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name. This building was replaced under Pope Sixtus III by the present structure dedicated to Mary. No Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom, St. Mary Major is one of the only four that hold the title of major basilica. The other three are the Basilicas of St. John in the Lateran, St. Peters, along with all of the other four Major Basilicas, St. Mary Major is also styled a Papal basilica. St. Mary Major was associated with the Patriarchate of Antioch, Philip Neri on 25 February 1552. It is agreed that the present church was built under Pope Sixtus III, the dedicatory inscription on the triumphal arch, Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei, is an indication of that Popes role in the construction. The church retains the core of its structure, despite several additional construction projects. Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus of 431. Pope Sixtus III built it to commemorate this decision and these fines enabled the papacy to carry out through the 5th century an ambitious building program, including Santa Maria Maggiore

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Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli
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The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. It is still the designated Church of the city council of Rome, the present Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Sancta Mariae de Aracoeli is Salvatore De Giorgi. Originally the church was named Sancta Maria in Capitolio, since it was sited on the Capitoline Hill of Ancient Rome, for this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar. A later legend substituted an apparition of the Virgin Mary, in The History of Money, Anthropologist Jack Weatherford goes into some detail about the churchs previous incarnation as the temple of Juno Moneta—on the Arx—after whom Money is named. From Moneta came the modem English words mint and money and, ultimately, today, the site of the Temple of Juno Moneta, the source of the great stream of Roman currency, has given way to the ancient. Brick church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, centuries ago, church architects incorporated the ruins of the ancient temple into the new building. The church is thought to have replaced the auguraculum, the seat of the augurs. The foundation of the church was laid on the site of a Byzantine abbey mentioned in 574. Many buildings were built around the first church, in the part they gave rise to a cloister, while on the slopes of the hill a little quarter. Remains of these buildings - such as the church of San Biagio de Mercato. At first the church followed the Greek rite, a sign of the power of the Byzantine exarch, the arches that divide the nave from the aisles are supported on columns, no two precisely alike, scavenged from Roman ruins. During the Middle Ages, this became the centre of the religious. In 1571, Santa Maria in Aracoeli hosted the celebrations honoring Marcantonio Colonna after the victorious Battle of Lepanto over the Turkish fleet, marking this occasion, the compartmented ceiling was gilded and painted, to thank the Blessed Virgin for the victory. In 1797, with the Roman Republic, the basilica was deconsecrated and turned into a stable. The original unfinished façade has lost the mosaics and subsequent frescoes that decorated it, save a mosaic in the tympanum of the main door. The Gothic window is the detail that tourists can see from the bottom of the stairs. The church is built as a nave and two aisles that are divided by Roman columns, all different, taken from diverse antique monuments. Among its numerous treasures are Pinturicchios 15th-century frescoes depicting the life of Saint Bernardino of Siena in the Bufalini Chapel and it houses also Madonna Aracoeli, in the Altar

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Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
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The Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State. James Michael Harvey was named Archpriest of the Basilica in 2012, in the 5th century it was larger than the Old St. Peters Basilica. The Christian poet Prudentius, who saw it at the time of emperor Honorius, under Pope St. Gregory the Great the Basilica was extensively modified. The pavement was raised to place the altar directly over St. Pauls tomb, a confession permitted access to the Apostles sepulcher. In that period there were two monasteries near the Basilica, St. Aristuss for men and St. Stefanos for women, masses were celebrated by a special body of clerics instituted by Pope Simplicius. Over time the monasteries and the Basilicas clergy declined, Pope St. Gregory II restored the former, as it lay outside the Aurelian Walls, the Basilica was damaged in the 9th century during a Saracen raid. In 937, when Saint Odo of Cluny came to Rome, Alberic II of Spoleto, Patrician of Rome, entrusted the monastery and basilica to his congregation, Pope Martin V entrusted it to the monks of the Congregation of Monte Cassino. It was then made an abbey nullius, the abbots jurisdiction extended over the districts of Civitella San Paolo, Leprignano, and Nazzano, all of which formed parishes. But the parish of San Paolo in Rome is under the jurisdiction of the cardinal vicar, the graceful cloister of the monastery was erected between 1220 and 1241. From 1215 until 1964 it was the seat of the Latin Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope Leo XII issued a document Ad plurimas encouraging donations for reconstruction. It was re-opened in 1840, and reconsecrated in 1855 with the presence of Pope Pius IX, the complete decoration and reconstruction, in charge of Luigi Poletti, took longer, however, and many countries made their contributions. The Viceroy of Egypt sent pillars of alabaster, the Emperor of Russia the precious malachite, the work on the principal façade, looking toward the Tiber, was completed by the Italian Government, which declared the church a national monument. On 23 April 1891 the explosion of the magazine at Forte Portuense destroyed the stained glass windows. On 31 May 2005 Pope Benedict XVI ordered the Basilica to come under the control of an Archpriest, the covered portico that precedes the façade is a Neo-classicist addition of the 19th-century reconstruction. The 20th-century door includes the remains of the leaves from the portal, executed by Staurachius of Chios around 1070 in Constantinople, with scenes from the New. On the right is the Holy Door, which is opened only during the Jubilees, the new basilica has maintained the original structure with one nave and four aisles. It is 131.66 metres long,65 metres -wide, and 29.70 metres -high, the naves 80 columns and its stucco-decorated ceiling are from the 19th century. All that remains of the ancient basilica are the portion of the apse with the triumphal arch

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Catacombs of Rome
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The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. The Etruscans, like many other European peoples, used to bury their dead in underground chambers, the original Roman custom was cremation, after which the burnt remains were kept in a pot, ash-chest or urn, often in a columbarium. From about the 2nd century AD, inhumation became more fashionable, in graves or sarcophagi, often elaborately carved, Christians also preferred burial to cremation because of their belief in bodily resurrection at the Second Coming. The Jewish catacombs are similarly important for the study of Jewish culture at this period, a number of dubious relics of catacomb saints were promoted after the rediscovery of the catacombs. The Etruscans, like many other European people, used to bury their dead in underground chambers, the original Roman custom was cremation, after which the burnt remains were kept in a pot, ash-chest or urn, often in a columbarium. From about the 2nd century AD, inhumation became more fashionable, in graves or sarcophagi, often elaborately carved, Christians also preferred burial to cremation because of their belief in bodily resurrection. The first large-scale catacombs in the vicinity of Rome were excavated from the 2nd century onwards and they were carved through tufo, a soft volcanic rock, outside the walls of the city, because Roman law forbade burial places within city limits. The pagan custom was to incinerate corpses, while early Christians, since most Christians and Jews at that time belonged to the lower classes or were slaves, they usually lacked the resources to buy land for burial purposes. Instead, networks of tunnels were dug in the layers of tufo which occurred naturally on the outskirts of Rome. There are sixty known subterranean burial chambers in Rome and they were built outside the walls along main Roman roads, like the Via Appia, the Via Ostiense, the Via Labicana, the Via Tiburtina, and the Via Nomentana. Names of the catacombs – like St Calixtus and St Sebastian, about 80% of the excavations used for Christian burials date to after the time of the persecutions. Excavators, no slaves, built vast systems of galleries and passages on top of each other. They lie 7–19 metres below the surface in an area of more than 2.4 square kilometres, narrow steps that descend as many as four stories join the levels. Passages are about 2.5 by 1 metre, burial niches were carved into walls. They are 40–60 centimetres high and 120–150 centimetres long, bodies were placed in chambers in stone sarcophagi in their clothes and bound in linen. Then the chamber was sealed with a slab bearing the name, age, the catacomb of Saint Agnes is a small church. Some families were able to construct cubicula which would house various loculi, another excellent place for artistic programs were the arcosolia. In 380, Christianity became a state religion, at first, many still desired to be buried in chambers alongside the martyrs

20.
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
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The church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, also called San Carlino, is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy. The church was designed by the architect Francesco Borromini and it was his first independent commission and he received the commission in 1634, under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, whose palace was across the road. However, this financial backing did not last and subsequently the project suffered various financial difficulties. It is one of at least three churches in Rome dedicated to San Carlo, including San Carlo ai Catinari and San Carlo al Corso. The monastic buildings and the cloister were completed first after which construction of the church took place during the period 1638-1641, Berninis oval church of SantAndrea al Quirinale would later be built further along the Strada Pia. The inscriptions found in San Carlo, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The concave-convex facade of San Carlo undulates in a non-classic way, tall corinthian columns stand on plinths and bear the main entablatures, these define the main framework of two storeys and the tripartite bay division. The medallion once contained a 1677 fresco by a Pietro Giarguzzi of the Holy Trinity, the plan and section show the layout of the cramped and difficult site, the church is on the corner with the cloister next to it and both face onto the Via Pia. The monastic buildings straddle the site, beyond which Borromini intended to design a garden, the church interior is both extraordinary and complex. The three principal parts can be identified vertically as the order at ground level, the transition zone of the pendentives. In the lower part of the church, the altar is on the same longitudinal axis as the door. One altar is dedicated to Saint Michael de Sanctis, the dedicated to Saint John Baptist of the Conception. Between these, and arranged in groups of four, sixteen columns carry a broad and this creates an undulating movement effect which is enhanced by the variation in treatment of the bays between the columns with niches, mouldings, and doors. The pendentives are part of the area where the undulating almost cross-like form of the lower order is reconciled with the oval opening to the dome. The oval entablature to the dome has a crown of foliage and frames a view of deep set interlocking coffering of octagons, crosses, light floods in from windows in the lower dome that are hidden by the oval opening and from windows in the side of the lantern. Flanking the apse of the altar is a pair of identical doorways. The right door leads to the convent through which the crypts below may be accessed, the door on the left leads to an external chapel known as Capella Barberini which contains a shrine to blessed Elisabeth Canori Mora. The crypt below follows the size and form of the church and has a low pierced vault, chapels open off this space, including an octagonal chapel on the south-east side where Borromini intended to be buried

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Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
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The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, the current Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Crucis in Hierusalem is Miloslav Vlk. Some decades later, the chapel was converted into a basilica, after falling into neglect, the Pope Lucius II restored the Basilica. It assumed a Romanesque appearance, with a nave, two aisles, belfry, and porch. The Basilica was also modified in the 16th century, but it assumed its current Baroque appearance under Pope Benedict XIV, new streets were also opened to connect the Basilica to two other Roman major basilicas, namely, San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade of the Basilica, which was designed by Pietro Passalacqua and Domenico Gregorini, according to a Vatican spokesman, an inquiry found evidence of liturgical and financial irregularities as well as lifestyles that were probably not in keeping with that of a monk. The relics were once in the ancient St. Helenas Chapel, here the founder of the Basilica had some soil from Calvary dispersed. In the vault is a designed by Melozzo da Forlì before 1485 depicting Jesus Blessing, Histories of the Cross. The altar has a statue of St. Helena, which was obtained from an ancient statue of the pagan goddess Juno discovered at Ostia. The apse of the Basilica includes frescoes telling the Legends of the True Cross, attributed to Melozzo, Antoniazzo Romano, and Marco Palmezzano. The Museum of the Basilica houses an icon from the 14th century which, according to the legend. Notable also is the tomb of Cardinal Francisco de los Ángeles Quiñones sculpted by Jacopo Sansovino in 1536. Peter Paul Rubens, who had arrived in Rome by way of Mantua in 1601, was commissioned by Archduke Albert of Austria to paint an altarpiece with three panels for the Chapel of St. Helena. Two of these paintings, St. Helena with the True Cross and The Mocking of Christ, are now in Grasse, the third, The Elevation of the Cross, was lost. Before his marriage, the Archduke had been made a cardinal in the Basilica, raimondo Besozzi, La storia della Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Marie-Théodore de Busierre, Les sept basiliques de Rome Tome second, claudio Rendina, La Grande Enciclopedia di Roma Belkin, Kristin Lohse. Official Site Description in the site of the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il MNR e lArea archeologica di Roma

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Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri
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The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs is a titular basilica church in Rome, Italy built inside the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian in the Piazza della Repubblica. The most recent Cardinal priest of the Titulus S. Mariae Angelorum in Thermis is William Henry Keeler, the basilica is dedicated to the Christian martyrs, known and unknown. By a brief dated 27 July 1561, Pius IV ordered the church built, a story that these Martyrs were Christian slave labourers who had been set to constructing the Baths is modern. It was also a monument of Pope Pius IV, whose tomb is in the apsidal tribune that culminates the series of spaces. The thermae of Diocletian dominated the Quirinal Hill with their mass and had successfully resisted Christianization. Michelangelo Buonarroti worked from 1563 to 1564 to adapt a section of the structure of the baths to enclose a church. Some later construction directed by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1749 only superficially distracts from the grand, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Michelangelo achieved an unexampled sequence of shaped architectural spaces with few precedents or followers. There is no true facade, the entrance is set within one of the coved apses of a main space of the thermae. The plan is developed from a Greek cross, with a transept so dominant, with its chapels at each end. Of the Saint Bruno, Pope Clement XIV said that he would speak, were it not for the vow of silence of the order he founded, raising the floor truncated the red granite Roman columns that articulate the transept and its flanking spaces. Michelangelo made the transept 27 meters wide, thus providing vast cubical spaces at each end of the transept, in 2006, Polish-born sculptor Igor Mitoraj created new bronze doors as well as a statue of John the Baptist for the basilica. In April 2010, a five metre high statue of Galileo Galilei Divine Man was unveiled in a courtyard within the complex. The statue was a donation from CCAST and WFS, Santa Maria degli Angeli was the official state church during the Kingdom of Italy. More recently, national burials have been held in the church, the church hosts the tombs of General Armando Diaz and Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, who were the commanders responsible for winning World War I on the Italian front. Also today the Basilica is used for ceremonies, included the funeral of soldiers killed abroad. Alan Cook remarked, The disposition, the stability and the precision are much better than those of the famous meridian. in Bologna, bianchinis sundial was built along the meridian that crosses Rome, at longitude 12°30 E. At solar noon, which according to the equation of time from around 10,54 a. m. UTC in late October to 11.24 a. m, UTC in February, the sun shines through a small hole in the wall to cast its light on this line each day

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Santa Maria in Cosmedin
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The Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin is a minor basilica church in Rome, Italy. It is located in the rione of Ripa, a deaconry was a place where charitable distributions were given to the poor, and it is appropriate that such an institution would have been built near or at a station of the Roman annona. Since it was located near many Byzantine structures, in 7th century this church was called de Schola Graeca, and a close street is still called della Greca. Greek monks escaping iconoclastic persecutions decorated the church around 782, when pope Adrian I promoted its reconstruction, because of its beauty, the church received the adjective cosmedin, ornate. Santa Maria in Cosmedin was the church of Popes Gelasius II and Celestine III. Among the former titular cardinal deacons of the church was Reginald Pole, the inscriptions found in S. Maria in Cosmedin, a valuable source illustrating the history of the Basilica, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. A substantial restoration was accomplished in 1118–1124 under Alfanus, camerarius of Pope Callixtus II, after being acquired by Benedictines and a period of decay, in 1718 the church was refurbished in the Baroque style, particularly by a new façade, by Giuseppe Sardi. The Baroque additions, however, were removed in the restoration of 1894–1899, in the portico of the church, on the north side, can be found La Bocca della Verità, an ancient sculpture thought to be a drain covering. A legend states that, if a person places his hand inside the mouth and then swears falsely, there is no attested case of such an event taking place. The churchs bell tower is the tallest medieval belfry in Rome, the current interior of S. Maria in Cosmedin has a nave with two aisles, these are divided by four pilasters and eighteen ancient columns. Built into the walls, some of the old columns of the Statio Annonae are visible. Other fragments of the ancient building can be seen in the crypt, paintings from the 8th-12th centuries, in three layers, are preserved in the upper part of the nave and in the triumphal arch. The church has a very fine Cosmatesque pavement, the schola cantorum is from the 13th century, while the main altar is a red granite piece from 1123. The Easter candelabrum is also from the 13th century, the sacristy houses a precious 8th-century mosaic fragment brought here from the Old St. Peters Basilica. Of the 18th-century restoration, the Crucifix Chapel and the Baptistry can be seen today, in a side altar on the left of the church is kept the flower crowned skull attributed to St Valentine. A scene from the 1953 romantic comedy movie Roman Holiday was filmed in Santa Maria in Cosmedin, in the scene, Joe played by Gregory Peck shocks the Anya/Princess Ann played by Audrey Hepburn by pretending to lose his hand in the Bocca della Verità. Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, Stato della basilica diaconale, collegiate, e parrocchiale di S. Maria in Cosmedin di Roma, giovenale, La Basilica di S. Maria in Cosmedin. Richard Krautheimer, Corpus basilicarum christianarum Romae, the early Christian basilicas of Rome

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Santa Maria in Trastevere
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The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, English, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and wall structure of the date back to the 340s. The first sanctuary was built in 221 and 227 by Pope Callixtus I, the church has large areas of important mosaics from the late 13th century by Pietro Cavallini. It is certainly one of the oldest churches in the city, a Christian house-church was founded here about 220 by Pope Saint Callixtus I on the site of the Taberna meritoria, a refuge for retired soldiers. In 340, when Pope Julius I rebuilt the titulus Callixti on a scale, it became the titulus Iulii in commemoration of his patronage. The church underwent two restorations in the fifth and eighth centuries and in 1140-43 it was re-erected on its old foundations under Pope Innocent II, Innocent II razed the church along with the recently completed tomb of the Antipope Anacletus II, his former rival. Innocent II arranged for his own burial on the formerly occupied by the tomb. The richly carved Ionic capitals reused along its nave were taken either from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla or the nearby Temple of Isis on the Janiculum. When scholarship during the 19th century identified the faces in their carved decoration as Isis, Serapis and Harpocrates, the inscriptions found in Santa Maria in Trastevere, a valuable resource illustrating the history of the Basilica, were collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The present nave preserves its original plan and stands on the earlier foundations. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door. Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the Life of the Virgin centering on a Coronation of the Virgin in the apse, domenichinos octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed. The fifth chapel to the left is the Avila Chapel designed by Antonio Gherardi and this, and his Chapel of S. Cecilia in San Carlo ai Catinari are two of the most architecturally inventive chapels of the late-17th century in Rome. The lower order of the chapel is fairly dark and employs Borromini-like forms, in the dome, there is an opening or oculus from which four putti emerge to carry a central tempietto, all of which frames a light-filled chamber above, illuminated by windows not visible from below. The church keeps a relic of Saint Apollonia, her head, among those buried in the church are the relics of Pope Callixtus I, Pope Innocent II, Antipope Anacletus II, Cardinal Philippe of Alençon and Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. The Romanesque campanile is from the 12th century, near the top, a niche protects a mosaic of the Madonna and Child. The mosaics on the façade are believed to be from the 12th century and they depict the Madonna enthroned and suckling the Child, flanked by 10 women holding lamps. This image on the façade showing Mary nursing Jesus is an example of a popular late-medieval

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Santa Prassede
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The Basilica of Saint Praxedes, commonly known in Italian as Santa Prassede, is an ancient titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, located near the papal basilica of Saint Mary Major. The current Cardinal Priest of Titulus Sancta Praxedis is Paul Poupard, peters first Christian convert in Rome. The two female saints were murdered for providing Christian burial for early martyrs in defiance of Roman law, the basilica was enlarged and decorated by Pope Paschal I in c. Pope Paschal, who reigned 817-824, was at the forefront of the Carolingian Renaissance started and advocated by the emperor Charlemagne and they desired to get back to the foundations of Christianity theologically and artistically. Paschal, thus, began two, linked, ambitious programs, the recovery of martyrs bones from the catacombs of Rome, Paschal dug up numerous skeletons and transplanted them to this church. The Titulus S. Praxedis was established by Pope Evaristus, around 112, the inscriptions found in Santa Prassede, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The church provided the inspiration for Robert Brownings poem The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxeds Church, the main altarpiece is a canvas of St Praxedes Gathering the Blood of the Martyrs by Domenico Muratori. The most famous element of the church is the mosaic decorative program, Paschal hired a team of professional mosaicists to complete the work in the apse, the apsidal arch, and the triumphal arch. In the apse, Jesus is in the center, flanked by Sts, peter and Paul who present Prassede and Pudenziana to God. On the far left is Paschal, with the halo of the living, presenting a model of the church as an offering to Jesus. Below runs an inscription of Paschals, hoping that this offering will be sufficient to secure his place in heaven, on the apsidal arch are twelve men on each side, holding wreaths of victory, welcoming the souls into heaven. Those mosaics, as well as those in the Chapel of Saint Zeno, ascending a spiral staircase, one enters a small room, covered in scaffolding, on the wall is a fresco cycle, dating most likely from the 8th century. The frescoes probably depict the life-cycle of the saint of the church. Santa Prassede also houses an alleged segment of the pillar upon which Jesus was flogged and tortured before his crucifixion in Jerusalem, among these legendary relics retrieved by Helena, which included pieces of the True Cross and wood from the Jesus crib enshrined at S. Maria Maggiore. Among known titulars of this see are Lambertus Scannabecchi, Ubaldo Allucingoli, Alain de Coëtivy, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, Saint Charles Borromeo, B. M. Apollonj Ghetti, Santa Prassede. Gillian Vallance Mackie, The Iconographic Programme of the Zeno Chapel at Santa Prassede, Rome. Mauck, “The Mosaic of the Triumphal Arch of Santa Prassede, A Liturgical Interpretation. ”Rotraut Wisskirchen, Mosaikprogramm von Santa Prassede in Rom. Anna Maria Affanni, La chiesa di Santa Prassede, la storia, il rilievo, il restauro. Mary M. Schaefer, Women in Pastoral Office, The Story of Santa Prassede, maurizio Caperna, La basilica di Santa Prassede, il significato della vicenda architettonica

26.
Santa Sabina
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The Basilica of Saint Sabina is a historical church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy. It is a minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers. Santa Sabina is perched high above the Tiber river to the north and it is next to small public park Giardino degli Aranci, which has a scenic terrace overlooking Rome. It is a distance to the headquarters of the Knights of Malta. Santa Sabina is the oldest extant Roman basilica in Rome that preserves its original colonnaded rectangular plan and its decorations have been restored to their original restrained design. Other basilicas, such as Santa Maria Maggiore, are heavily and gaudily decorated. Because of its simplicity, the Santa Sabina represents the crossover from a roofed Roman forum to the churches of Christendom and its Cardinal Priest is Jozef Tomko. It is the church for Ash Wednesday. Santa Sabina was built by Peter of Illyria, a Dalmatian priest, the church was built on the site of early Imperial houses, one of which is said to be of Sabina, a Roman matron originally from Avezzano in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Sabina was beheaded under the Emperor Vespasian, or perhaps Hadrian, because she had converted to Christianity by her servant Seraphia. She was later declared a Christian Saint, in the 9th century, it was enclosed in a fortification area. The interior was renovated by Domenico Fontana in 1587 and by Francesco Borromini in 1643. Italian architect and art historian Antonio Muñoz restored the medieval appearance of the church. The bell tower was built in the 10th century and remade in the Baroque period, the church was the seat of a conclave in 1287, although the prelates left the church after a plague had killed six of them. They returned in the only on 1288 February, electing Nicholas IV as pope. The exterior of the church, with its large windows made of selenite, not glass, the wooden door of the basilica is generally agreed to be the original door from 430–32, although it was apparently not constructed for this doorway. Eighteen of its wooden panels survive — all but one depicting scenes from the Bible, above the doorway, the interior preserves an original dedication in Latin hexameters. The campanile dates from the 10th century, the original fifth-century apse mosaic was replaced in 1559 by a very similar fresco by Taddeo Zuccari

27.
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
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SantIvo alla Sapienza is a Roman Catholic church in Rome. Built in 1642-1660 by the architect Francesco Borromini, the church is a masterpiece of Roman Baroque architecture, the church is at the rear of a courtyard at 40, Corso del Rinascimento, the complex is now used by the Archives of the City of Rome. In the 14th century, there was a chapel here for the palace of the University of Rome, the University is called La Sapienza, and the church was dedicated to Saint Ivo. When a design was commissioned from Borromini in the 17th century, the corkscrew lantern of the dome was novel. The complex rhythms of the interior have a dazzling geometry to them, the main artwork of the interior is the altarpiece by Pietro da Cortona, portraying St. Yves. The church rises at the end of a courtyard, known as the courtyard of Giacomo della Porta, the façade is concave, molding the church into the courtyard as if completing it rather than disrupting it. The façade itself looks like a continuation of the courtyard arches except with the filled in with small windows, a door. Above the façade is a large parapet structure so that only the stages of the church is seen past the façade. A key exterior aspect is the top of the church, the lantern of SantIvo is topped with a spiral shape, the interior of SantIvo is unique because of the shapes incorporated into the rotunda. Borromini was well known for fusing of geometrical shapes as well as his pairing of columns in order to facilitate curves, but for SantIvo, Borromini did not blend the different shapes. The rotunda of SantIvo is contrived of distinct shapes, a triangle with its three angles cut as if bitten off, and semi-circles located in between the three lines. Borromini utilized curves and edges in equal amounts to define the shape of the rotunda and this blending of edges and curves is arguably Borromini’s most distinguishable signature. Another detail is that associated with the round sections of the dome are larger than those associated with the edges. One of the sections is where the entrance is located while the altar is located on the opposite end. The two other round and edgy sections to the sides are identical in features, through the perforations in the lantern, sunlight illuminates the dome through an oculi. The aisles of arches surrounding the right and left wings of SantIvo are themselves not halted by the church, here, the space between the arches and the walls in the aisles still continues past the church’s sides. Each aisle has a lateral entrance to the church. These hindered side entrances lead to rooms, and these hexagonal rooms are connected to the rotunda as well as the smaller façade windows

28.
Santa Maria della Vittoria
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Santa Maria della Vittoria is a Roman Catholic titular church dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in Rome, Italy. The church is known for the masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Cornaro Chapel, the church is in the Rione Sallustiano, on number 98 via XX Settembre, where this street intersects with Largo Santa Susanna. It stands to the side of the Fontana dellAcqua Felice, the church mirrors the Church of Santa Susanna across the Largo. It is about two blocks northwest of Piazza della Repubblica and Teatro dellOpera metro stop, the church was begun in 1605 as a chapel dedicated to Saint Paul for the Discalced Carmelites. After the Catholic victory at the battle of White Mountain in 1620, which reversed the Reformation in Bohemia, turkish standards captured at the 1683 siege of Vienna hang in the church, as part of this theme of victory. The order itself funded the work until the discovery of the Borghese Hermaphroditus in the excavations. Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, appropriated this sculpture but in return funded the rest of work on the façade and these grants only came into effect in 1624, and work was completed two years later. The church is the structure designed and completed by the early Baroque architect Carlo Maderno, though the interior suffered a fire in 1833. Its façade, however, was erected by Giovanni Battista Soria during Madernos lifetime, 1624–1626, contrasting marble revetments are enriched with white and gilded stucco angels and putti in full relief. Other sculptural detail abounds, The Dream of Joseph and the monument to Cardinal Berlinghiero Gessi. There are paintings by Guercino, Nicolas Lorrain, and Domenichino, the church is also the final resting place of Saint Victoria, whose preserved remains are on display inside. The masterpiece in the Cornaro Chapel, to the left of the altar, is Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Scipiones favored sculptor, the flowing robes and contorted posture abandon classical restraint and repose to depict a more passionate, almost voluptuous trance. Santa Maria della Vittoria was established as a church by Pope Pius VII on 23 December 1801. The statue is a feature in the 2009 novel, Cutting for Stone, main characters live with a fading picture of it in their Ethiopian home as a remnant of their deceased mother and friend. It remains a part of their lives and surfaces late in the story as they are witness to the real marble creation in the chapel, the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. Rome, Order of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers, l’architettura dei Carmelitani Scalzi in età barocca, La ‘Provincia Romana’. A Study of the Iconography of Berninis Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria Della Vittoria Athens, chris Nyborg, Churches of Rome, Santa Maria della Vittoria Roberto Piperno, santa Maria della Vittoria Santa Maria della Vittoria Roma SPQR, Santa Maria della Vittoria

29.
Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
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The Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo is an Augustinian church in Rome, Italy. It stands on the side of Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The church is hemmed in between Porta del Popolo and the Pincian Hill, Porta Flaminia was one of the gates in the Aurelian Wall as well as the starting point of Via Flaminia, the most important route from the north. The church contains works by famous artists, such as Raphael, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Caravaggio, Alessandro Algardi, Pinturicchio, Andrea Bregno, Guillaume de Marcillat. In 1099, a chapel was built by Pope Paschal II to Our Lady over the tomb of the Domitii Ahenobarbi. Tradition has it that the site was haunted by Neros ghost or demons in the form of crows, therefore the pope chopped down the walnut tree sheltering the crows. The name del Popolo probably derives from its funding by the people of Rome, the chapel was enlarged and became a church by will of Pope Gregory IX in 1235, and was given to the Augustinian friars, who still oversee it, in 1250. Santa Maria del Popolo was reconstructed by Baccio Pontelli and Andrea Bregno in 1472-1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV and was given to the congregation of Lombard friars in Rome, the result of the reconstruction was an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture. In 1655-60 the façade was modified by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was asked by Pope Alexander VII to update the Renaissance church to a more modern Baroque style. Façade The façade was built in early Renaissance style in the 1470s when the church was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus IV. The alterations included the addition of gables at the sides on the level, pediments above the side entrances. The architecture is attributed to Andrea Bregno but without definitive evidence. According to Ulrich Fürst the architect aimed at perfect proportioning and also at masterful restraint in the detail, in this way he succeeded in designing the best church façade in early-Renaissance Rome. The façade was built of bright Roman travertine, and it is two storeys high, the three entrances are accessed by a flight of stairs giving a feel of monumentality. The architecture is simple and dignified with four pilasters on the lower level. The side doors are surmounted by pediments and their lintels have dedicatory inscriptions referring to Pope Sixtus IV. There is a pair of arched windows above them. Bernini added the two halves of a segmental pediment on the sides of the upper level, and the curved connecting element with the rich garlands

30.
San Pietro in Vincoli
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For other churches of this dedication, see St Peter ad Vincula. San Pietro in Vincoli is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, best known for being the home of Michelangelos statue of Moses, the Titulus S. Petri ad vincula was assigned on 20 November 2010, to Donald Wuerl. The previous Cardinal Priest of the basilica was Pío Laghi, who died on 11 January 2009, next to the church is hosted the Faculty of Engineering of La Sapienza University, in the former convent building. This is named San Pietro in Vincoli per antonomasia, the church is located on the Oppian Hill near Cavour metro station, a short distance from the Colosseum. The Empress Eudoxia, who received them as a gift from her mother, Aelia Eudocia, consort of Valentinian II, Aelia Eudocia had received these chains as a gift from Iuvenalis, bishop of Jerusalem. According to legend, when Leo compared them to the chains of St. Peters final imprisonment in the Mamertine Prison, in Rome, the chains are now kept in a reliquary under the main altar in the basilica. The basilica, consecrated in 439 by Sixtus III, has undergone restorations, among them a restoration by Pope Adrian I. From 1471 to 1503, in which year he was elected Pope Julius II, Cardinal Della Rovere, the front portico, attributed to Baccio Pontelli, was added in 1475. The cloister has been attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo, further work was done at the beginning of the 18th century, under Francesco Fontana, and there was also a renovation in 1875. The interior has a nave and two aisles, with three divided by antique Doric columns. The aisles are surmounted by cross-vaults, while the nave has an 18th-century coffered ceiling, frescoed in the center by Giovanni Battista Parodi, in this scene, Pope Alexander heals the neck goiter of Saint Balbina by touching her with the chains that once bound St Peter. Moses is depicted with horns, connoting the radiance of the Lord, due to the similarity in the Hebrew words for beams of light and this kind of iconographic symbolism was common in early sacred art, and for an artist horns are easier to sculpt than rays of light. The altarpiece on the first chapel to the left is a Deposition by Cristoforo Roncalli, the tomb of Cardinal Nicholas of Kues, with its relief, Cardinal Nicholas before St Peter, is by Andrea Bregno. Painter and sculptor Antonio Pollaiuolo is buried at the side of the entrance. He is the Florentine sculptor who added the figures of Romulus and Remus to the sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf on the Capitol, the tomb of Cardinal Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini, decorated with an allegorical skeletal representation of Death, is also in the church. In 1876 archeologists discovered the tombs of those believed to be the seven Maccabean martyrs depicted in 2 Maccabees 7–41. It is highly unlikely that these are in fact the Jewish martyrs that had offered their lives in Jerusalem and they are remembered each year on 1 August, the same day as the miracle of the fusing of the two chains. The third altar in the left holds a mosaic of Saint Sebastian from the seventh century

31.
Ancient Roman architecture
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Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but differed from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and even more so under the Empire and it used new materials, particularly concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well-engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the empire, sometimes complete, Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture. Almost no substantial examples survive from before about 100 BC, and most of the major survivals are from the later empire, after about 100 AD. They moved from trabeated construction mostly based on columns and lintels to one based on walls, punctuated by arches. The classical orders now became largely decorative rather than structural, except in colonnades, however, they did not feel entirely restricted by Greek aesthetic concerns, and treated the orders with considerable freedom. Innovation started in the 3rd or 2nd century BC with the development of Roman concrete as a readily available adjunct to, or substitute for, stone, more daring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes. The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale architecture, concretes strength freed the floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-flowing environment, factors such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans to discover new architectural solutions of their own. The use of vaults and arches, together with a knowledge of building materials. Examples include the aqueducts of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla and these were reproduced at a smaller scale in most important towns and cities in the Empire. Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the walls of Lugo in Hispania Tarraconensis. The administrative structure and wealth of the empire made possible very large even in locations remote from the main centres, as did the use of slave labour. Especially under the empire, architecture often served a function, demonstrating the power of the Roman state in general. The influence is evident in many ways, for example, in the introduction and use of the Triclinium in Roman villas as a place, Roman builders employed Greeks in many capacities, especially in the great boom in construction in the early Empire. The Roman Architectural Revolution, also known as the Concrete Revolution, was the use in Roman architecture of the previously little-used architectural forms of the arch, vault. For the first time in history, their potential was fully exploited in the construction of a range of civil engineering structures, public buildings

32.
Roman villa
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A Roman villa was a country house built for the upper class in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The villa rustica centered on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied, under the Empire a concentration of Imperial villas grew up near the Bay of Naples, especially on the Isle of Capri, at Monte Circeo on the coast and at Antium. Wealthy Romans escaped the heat in the hills round Rome. Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of them, Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. The Empire contained many kinds of villas, not all of them lavishly appointed with mosaic floors, in the provinces, any country house with some decorative features in the Roman style may be called a villa by modern scholars. Some villas were more like the houses of England or Poland. These early suburban villas, such as the one at Romes Auditorium site or at Grottarossa in Rome, demonstrate the antiquity and it is possible that these early, suburban villas were also in fact the seats of power of regional strongmen or heads of important families. A third type of villa provided the organizational center of the large holdings called latifundia, by the first century BC, the classic villa took many architectural forms, with many examples employing atrium or peristyle, for enclosed spaces open to light and air. Upper class, wealthy Roman citizens in the countryside around Rome and throughout the Empire lived in villa complexes, the villa-complex consisted of three parts. The pars urbana where the owner and his family lived and this would be similar to the wealthy-persons in the city and would have painted walls. The pars rustica where the chef and slaves of the villa worked and lived and this was also the living quarters for the farms animals. There would usually be other rooms here that might be used as store rooms, the villa fructuaria would be the storage rooms. These would be where the products of the farm were stored ready for transport to buyers, storage rooms here would have been used for oil, wine, grain, grapes and any other produce of the villa. Other rooms in the villa might include an office, a temple for worship, several bedrooms, a dining room, Villas were often furnished with plumbed bathing facilities and many would have had an under-floor central heating known as the hypocaust. Smaller in the countryside, even non-commercial villas operated as largely self-supporting units, with associated farms, olive groves, Roman writers refer with satisfaction to the self-sufficiency of their villas, where they drank their own wine and pressed their own oil, a commonly used literary topos. The late Roman Republic witnessed an explosion of villa construction in Italy, especially in the following the dictatorship of Sulla. In Etruria, the villa at Settefinestre has been interpreted as being the centre of one of the latifundia that were involved in agricultural production. At Settefinestre and elsewhere, the housing of such villas was not richly appointed

33.
Villa of Livia
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The Villa of Livia is an ancient Roman villa at Prima Porta,12 km north of Rome along the Via Flaminia. It was probably part of Livia Drusillas dowry she brought when she married the emperor Augustus, her second husband and it was her country residence complementing her house on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Its Latin name, Villa Ad Gallinas Albas, referred to its breed of white chickens, but it was famous for its laurel grove. The location was important due to the iron-rich cliffs of red tuff that approach the river at this point, the confluence of several roads. The name Prima Porta came from an arch of the aqueduct over the Via Flaminia that brought water to the villa, the villa occupied the height dominating the view down the Tiber Valley to Rome. Some of the walling that retained its terraces may still be seen, the Villa was built and modified in four stages, the earliest of Republican date, the latest of the time of Constantine the Great. The site was rediscovered and explored as early as 1596, in 1863/4 a marble krater carved in refined low relief was discovered at the site. In 1867 the famous heroic marble statue of Augustus, the Augustus of Prima Porta, was found, it is now in the Vatican Museums. The magisterial Augustus is a copy of a bronze statue that celebrated the return in 20 BCE of the military standards captured by the Parthians in 53 BCE after the defeat of Crassus at Carrhae. In the 19th century the villa belonged to the Convent of Santa Maria in Via Lata, the villa and gardens have been excavated and can be visited. The vault above the fresco was covered with stucco reliefs some of which survive, a new series of more meticulous modern excavations was initiated in 1970. Since 1995 exploration at the Villa has been undertaken by the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, headed by Professor Gaetano Messineo, la Villa di Livia a Prima Porta da praedium suburbanum a villa Caesarum. Roman Villas Around The Urbs, interaction with landscape and environment, proceedings of a Conference at the Swedish Institute in Rome, September 17-18,2004. M. Carrara, ad Gallinas Albas, in Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, Suburbium, III, p. 17-24 Jane Clark Reeder,2001. The Villa of Livia Ad Gallinas Albas, a Study in the Augustan Villa and Garden. La Villa di Livia a Prima Porta, a Note on the Placement of the Prima Porta Statue. American Journal of Philology 121.1 pp. 121-128, romano Impero Robert Piperno, A Walk to Malborghetto

34.
Villa of the Quintilii
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The Villa of the Quintilii is an ancient Roman villa beyond the fifth milestone along the Via Appia Antica just outside the traditional boundaries of Rome, Italy. It was built by the rich and cultured brothers Sextus Quintilius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus in the course of the 2nd century, the nucleus of the villa was constructed in the time of Hadrian. The fragments of Collossal Statues found near this ruin confirms me in this opinion, the excellent sculptour strengthens this supposition. There he found five marble sculptures, including An Adonis asleep, the large marble relief of Asclepius found at the site passed from Hamilton to the Earl of Shelburne, later Marquess of Lansdowne, at Lansdowne House, London. The Braschi Venus from the site was purchased by Pius VIs nephew, today the archeological site houses a museum with marble friezes and sculptures that once adorned the villa. The nympheum, the hall of the tepidarium and the baths may also be visited, a grand terrace overlooking the Via Appia Nuova, which dates back to 1784, commands a fine view of the Castelli Romani district. The villas grounds extended even beyond the route of the Via Appia Nuova

35.
Villa of the sette bassi
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The Villa dei Sette Bassi is an archaeological site located in Rome, Italy. The site is located at the mile of Via Tuscolana to the southeast of Rome. The site, however, dates back to Antoninus Pius and was inhabited until the beginning of fourth century, the residential area consists of three contiguous parts, dating back to three different stages following rapid chronological succession. The parts are rectangular and are arranged aligned from east to west, there were also gardens and a main park onto which the buildings looked. The plan is compact, with no windows facing outward, the second building was constructed to the southwest of the previous peristyle, between 140 and 150. It has a length of 45 m and is 25 m wide and it is a structure linked to luxury, without any functional character. The third structure is believed to have been constructed at the end of the reign of Antonius Pius, to the northwest of the villa was a series of houses with warehouses, temples and cisterns. This was where the population lived and most of the agricultural. The area has not been the subject of investigation but remains of a small temple are clearly visible. This was rectangular and constructed of brick, had vaulted ceilings and was gabled and it contained a rectangular apse for the Divine Statue. The area of the villa also contained a Hippodrome, as well as cisterns that obtained their water from a dedicated to the villa. Remains of one of the form the foundations of a farmhouse on the property. The condition of these ruins is poor, in February 2014 a buttress collapsed. This was attributed to rain but excavations have shown that the building materials used were of low quality. Also the area was subjected to bombing during the Second World War. R. Egidi, Villa dei Sette Bassi, in C, kicking, Rome archaeological, Rome 2005, p. 442-444. M. De Franceschini, Villa Via Tuscolana, the Seven Netherlands, in Ville Agro Romano, Rome 2005, roman Villa Villa of the Quintilii Appian Way Regional Park

36.
Roman temple
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Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain the most obvious symbol of Roman architecture and their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion, and all towns of any importance had at least one main temple, as well as smaller shrines. The main room housed the image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. Behind the cella was a room or rooms used by attendants for storage of equipment. The ordinary worshipper rarely entered the cella, and most public ceremonies were performed outside, on the portico, with a crowd gathered in the temple precinct. The most common architectural plan had a rectangular temple raised on a podium, with a clear front with a portico at the top of steps. The sides and rear of the building had much less architectural emphasis, there were also circular plans, generally with columns all round, and outside Italy there were many compromises with traditional local styles. The Roman form of temple developed initially from Etruscan temples, themselves influenced by the Greeks, public religious ceremonies of the official Roman religion took place outdoors, and not within the temple building. Some ceremonies were processions that started at, visited, or ended with a temple or shrine, sacrifices, chiefly of animals, would take place at an open-air altar within the templum. Especially under the Empire, exotic foreign cults gained followers in Rome and these often had very different practices, some preferring underground places of worship, while others, like Early Christians, worshipped in houses. The decline of Roman religion was relatively slow, and the temples themselves were not appropriated by the government until a decree of the Emperor Honorius in 415. Santi Cosma e Damiano, in the Roman Forum, originally the Temple of Romulus, was not dedicated as a church until 527. The best known is the Pantheon, Rome, which is however highly untypical, being a large circular temple with a magnificent concrete roof. The English word temple derives from the Latin templum, which was not the building itself. The Roman architect Vitruvius always uses the word templum to refer to the sacred precinct, the more common Latin words for a temple or shrine were sacellum, aedes, delubrum, and fanum. The Etruscans were a people of northern Italy, whose civilization was at its peak in the seventh century BC, the Etruscans were already influenced by early Greek architecture, so Roman temples were distinctive but with both Etruscan and Greek features. Especially in the periods, further statuary might be placed on the roof. As in the Maison Carrée, columns at the side might be half-columns and these steps were normally only at the front, and typically not the whole width of that

37.
Pantheon, Rome
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The Pantheon is a former Roman temple, now a church, in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD and he retained Agrippas original inscription, which has confused its date of construction as the original Pantheon burnt down so it is not certain when the present one was built. The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns under a pediment, a rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheons dome is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome, the height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same,43.3 metres. Mary and the Martyrs but informally known as Santa Maria Rotonda, the square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a property, ruled by Italys Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio. The Pantheons large circular domed cella, with a temple portico front, is unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, Pantheon is derived from the Ancient Greek Pantheion meaning of, relating to, or common to all the gods. His uncertainty strongly suggests that Pantheon was merely a nickname, not the name of the building. In fact, the concept of a dedicated to all the gods is questionable. The only definite pantheon recorded earlier than Agrippas was at Antioch in Syria and it seems highly significant that Dio does not quote the simplest explanation for the name—that the Pantheon was dedicated to all the gods. Godfrey and Hemsoll maintain that the word Pantheon need not denote a group of gods, or, indeed, even all the gods. Certainly the word pantheus or pantheos, could be applicable to individual deities…, bearing in mind also that the Greek word θεῖος need not mean of a god but could mean superhuman, or even excellent. It seems likely that the Pantheon and the Basilica of Neptune were Agrippas sacra privata and this less solemn designation would help explain how the building could have so easily lost its original name and purpose in such a relatively short period of time. However, archaeological excavations have shown that the Pantheon of Agrippa had been destroyed except for the façade. Lise Hetland argues that the present construction began in 114, under Trajan and her argument is particularly interesting in light of Heilmeyers argument that, based on stylistic evidence, Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajans architect, was the obvious architect. The form of Agrippas Pantheon is debated and this description was widely accepted until the late 20th century. The only passages referring to the decoration of the Agrippan Pantheon written by an eyewitness are in Plinys Natural History, from him we know that the capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M

38.
Temple of Castor and Pollux
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The Temple of Castor and Pollux is an ancient temple in the Roman Forum, Rome, central Italy. It was originally built in gratitude for victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus, Castor and Pollux were the Dioscuri, the twins of Gemini, the twin sons of Zeus and Leda. Their cult came to Rome from Greece via Magna Graecia and the Greek culture of Southern Italy, the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and his allies, the Latins, waged war on the infant Roman Republic. Before the battle, the Roman dictator Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis vowed to build a temple to the Dioscuri if the Republic were victorious, the temple stands on the supposed spot of their appearance. One of Postumius’ sons was elected duumvir in order to dedicate the temple on 15 July 484 BC. In Republican times the temple served as a place for the Roman Senate. During the imperial period the temple housed the office for weights and measures, the archaic temple was completely reconstructed and enlarged in 117 BC by Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus after his victory over the Dalmatians. Gaius Verres again restored this temple in 73 BC. Tiberius temple was dedicated in 6 AD, the remains visible today are from the temple of Tiberius, except the podium, which is from the time of Metellus. According to Edward Gibbon, the temple of Castor served as a meeting place for the Roman Senate. Frequent meetings of the Senate are also reported by Cicero and he said the senate was roused to rebellion against Emperor Maximinus Thrax and in favor of future emperor Gordian I at the Temple of Castor in 237 AD. The temple was already falling apart in the fourth century. Nothing is known of its subsequent history, except that in the 15th century, the street running by the building was called via Trium Columnarum. In 1760, the Conservatori, finding the columns in a state of imminent collapse, today the podium survives without the facing, as do the three columns and a piece of the entablature, one of the most famous features in the Forum. The octastyle temple was peripteral, with eight Corinthian columns at the short sides, there was a single cella paved with mosaics. The podium measures 32 m ×49.5 m and 7 m in height, the building was constructed in opus caementicium and originally covered with slabs of tuff which were later removed. According to ancient sources, the temple had a central stairway to access the podium. The temple complex was excavated and studied between 1983 and 1989 by a joint archaeological mission of the Nordic academies in Rome, led by Inge Nielsen and B

39.
Temple of Hercules Victor
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The Temple of Hercules Victor or Hercules Olivarius is a Roman temple in Piazza Bocca della Verità, in the area of the Forum Boarium close to the Tiber in Rome. It is a monopteros, a temple of Greek peripteral design completely encircled by a colonnade. This layout caused it to be mistaken for a temple of Vesta until it was identified by Napoleons Prefect of Rome. Despite the Forum Boariums role as the cattle-market for ancient Rome and these elements supported an architrave and roof, which have disappeared. The original wall of the cella, built of travertine and marble blocks, palladios published reconstruction suggested a dome, though this was apparently erroneous. The temple is the earliest surviving building in Rome. Its major literary sources are two almost identical passages, one in Servius commentary on the Aeneid and the other in Macrobius Saturnalia, by 1132 the temple had been converted to a church, known as Santo Stefano alle Carozze. Additional restorations were made in 1475, a plaque in the floor was dedicated by Sixtus IV. In the 17th century the church was rededicated to Santa Maria del Sole, the temple and the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli were an inspiration for Bramantes Tempietto and other High Renaissance churches of centralized plan. The temple was recognized officially as an ancient monument in 1935, oxford University Press,1998 Coarelli, Filippo. Storming the Campo Vaccino, British Architects and the Antique Buildings of Rome after Waterloo, the Buildings of Europe - Rome. Page 30, Manchester University Press,1995, mummius Temple of Hercules Victor and the Round Temple on the Tiber. Detailed photographs of the interior and features of the building

40.
Temple of Portunus
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The Temple of Portunus or Temple of Fortuna Virilis is a Roman temple in Rome, one of the best preserved of all Roman temples. Its dedication remains unclear, as ancient sources mention several temples in this area of Rome and it was called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis from the Renaissance, and remains better known by this name. If dedicated to Portunus, god of keys, doors and livestock, like the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, it has a pronaos portico of four Ionic columns across and two columns deep. The columns of the portico are free-standing, while the five columns on the long sides. This form is sometimes called pseudoperipteral, as distinct from a true peripteral temple like the Parthenon entirely surrounded by free-standing columns. The Ionic capitals are of the form, different in the frontal and side views, except in the volutes at the corners, which project at 45°. It is built of tuff and travertine with a stucco surface, the temple owes its state of preservation to its being converted for use as a church in 872 and rededicated to Santa Maria Egyziaca. Its Ionic order has been admired, drawn and engraved and copied since the 16th century. The original coating of stucco over its tufa and travertine construction has been lost, the circular Temple of Hercules Victor is located south-east of the temple in the Forum Boarium. The 18th-century Temple of Harmony in Somerset, England is a based on the Temple of Portunus

41.
Temple of Saturn
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The Temple of Saturn is a temple to the god Saturn in ancient Rome. The original dedication of a temple to Saturn was traditionally dated to 497 BC, the ruins of the temple stand at the foot of the Capitoline Hill in the western end of the Forum Romanum. Gradual collapse has left nothing but the remains of the front portico standing, the partially preserved pediment displays the inscription Senatus Populusque Romanus incendio consumptum restituit, meaning The Senate and People of Rome have restored consumed by fire. The pediment and eight surviving columns represent one of the images of Romes ancient architectural heritage. Construction of the temple is thought to have begun in the years of the Roman Kingdom under Tarquinius Superbus. Its inauguration by the Consul Titus Lartius took place in the years of the Republic. The temple was reconstructed by Munatius Plancus in 42 BC. The present ruins represent the third incarnation of the Temple of Saturn, the extant inscription on the frieze commemorates the restoration undertaken after the fire. According to ancient sources, the statue of the god in the interior was veiled and equipped with a scythe, the image was made of wood and filled with oil. The legs were covered with bands of wool which were removed only on December 17, in Roman mythology, Saturn ruled during the Golden Age, and he continued to be associated with wealth. His temple housed the treasury, where the Roman Republics reserves of gold, the state archives and the insignia and official scale for the weighing of metals were also housed there. Later, the aerarium was moved to building, and the archives transferred to the nearby Tabularium. The temples podium, in covered with travertine, was used for posting bills

42.
Temple of Vesta
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The Temple of Vesta is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy, located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The temples most recognizable feature is its circular footprint, since the worship of Vesta began in private homes, the architecture seems to be a reminder of its history. The extant temple used Greek architecture with Corinthian columns, marble, the remaining structure indicates that there were twenty Corinthian columns built on a podium fifteen meters in diameter. The roof probably had a vent at the apex to allow smoke release, all temples to Vesta were round, and had entrances facing east to symbolize connection between Vesta’s fire and the sun as sources of life. The Temple of Vesta represents the site of ancient cult activity as far back as 7th century BCE, numa Pompilius is believed to have built this temple along with the original Regia and House of the Vestal Virgins in its original form. Around the Temple stood The Sacred Grove, in which there was a graveyard for the priests. It was one of the earliest structures located in the Roman Forum although its present reincarnation is the result of subsequent rebuilding, instead of a cult statue in the cella there was a hearth which held the sacred flame. The temple was the storehouse for the legal wills and documents of Roman Senators and cult objects such as the Palladium. The Palladium was a statue of Athena believed to have been brought by Aeneas from Troy, the statue was felt to be one of the Pignora Imperii, or pledges of imperium, of Ancient Rome. That the Romans believed that the Sacred fire of Vesta was closely tied to the fortunes of the city, the temple was rebuilt many times, for it was destroyed many times. The first destruction of the temple was by the Gauls in 390, such fires occurred again in 210 BC and again in the early first century BC, however, the building was safe. It was rebuilt again during the reigns of Augustus and Nero, finally, it burnt down in 191 AD and was later built for the last time during the reign of Septimius Severus. The Temple of Vesta remained reasonably intact until the Renaissance, however, in 1549, the building was completely demolished and its marble reused in churches and papal palaces. The section standing today was reconstructed in the 1930s during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, the round Temple of Hercules Victor in the Forum Boarium was initially thought to be a temple of Vesta. Brockman, Norbert, Encyclopedia of Sacred Places,1, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-1-59884-654-6 Gorski, Gilbert J. Packer, the Roman Forum, A Reconstruction and Architectural Guide, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-19244-6 Howatson, M. C. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954855-2 Middleton, the Temple and Atrium of Vesta and the Regia. Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity,395, Middleton, John Henry, The Remains of Ancient Rome,1 Stamper, John W

43.
Altare della Patria
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It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill. The eclectic structure was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885, sculpture for it was parceled out to established sculptors all over Italy, such as Leonardo Bistolfi and it was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1925. The Vittoriano features stairways, Corinthian columns, fountains, an sculpture of Victor Emmanuel. The structure is 135 m wide and 70 m high, if the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height reaches 81 m. It has an area of 17,000 square metres. The base of the houses the museum of Italian Unification. In 2007, a lift was added to the structure. The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame, the body of the unknown soldier was chosen on 26 October 1921 from among 11 unknown remains by Maria Bergamas, a woman from Gradisca dIsonzo whose only child was killed during World War I. Her sons body was never recovered, the selected unknown was transferred from Aquileia, where the ceremony with Bergamas had taken place, to Rome and buried in a state funeral on 4 November 1921. The oldest flag on display is the flag of the 19th-century frigate Giuseppe Garibaldi, the monument, the largest in Rome, was controversial since its construction destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill with a Medieval neighbourhood for its sake. The monument itself is regarded as conspicuous, pompous and too large. It has been described as being chopped with terrible brutality into the immensely complicated fabric of the hill and it is clearly visible to most of the city of Rome despite being boxy in general shape and lacking a dome or a tower. The monument is also white, built from corpse-white marble imported from Botticino in Brescia. For its shape and conspicuous nature, Romans have given it a number of humorous and somewhat uncomplimentary nicknames, including la torta nuziale, Maps and aerial photos - Google Maps I Simboli della Repubblica - Il Vittoriano

44.
Ara Pacis
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The Ara Pacis Augustae is an altar in Rome dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace. The monument was commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4,13 BC to honor the return of Augustus to Rome after three years in Hispania and Gaul, and consecrated on January 30,9 BC and it was reassembled in its current location in 1938. The altar reflects the Augustan vision of Roman civil religion, within the enclosing precinct walls, the altar itself was carved with images illustrating the lex aria, the law governing the ritual performed at the altar. What remains of the altar is otherwise fragmentary, but it appears to have been largely functional with less emphasis on art, the interior of the precinct walls are carved with bucrania, ox skulls, from which carved garlands hang. The garlands bear fruits from various types of plants, all displayed on a garland as allegorical representations of plenty. The bucrania in turn evoke the idea of sacrificial piety, appropriate motifs for the interior of the altar precinct. The upper register of the northern and southern walls depict scenes of the emperor, his family, various togate figures are shown with their heads covered, signifying their role as both priests and sacrificiants. Other figures wear laurel crowns, traditional Roman symbols of victory, members of individual priestly colleges are depicted in traditional garb appropriate to their office, while lictors can be identified by their iconographic fasces. The western and eastern walls are pierced by entryways to the altar, although the interior would only have been accessed by a stairway on the western side. The entryways were flanked by panels depicting allegorical or mythological scenes evocative of peace, piety, the identity of these various figures has been a point of some controversy over the years, relying heavily on interpretation of fragmentary remains, discussed below. The sculpture of the Ara Pacis is primarily symbolic rather than decorative, peter Holliday suggested that the Altars imagery of the Golden Age, usually discussed as mere poetic allusion, appealed to a significant component of the Roman populace. The East and West walls each contain two panels, one well preserved and one represented only in fragments and this scene has been reconstructed, based on coins that depict such a seated Roma. When the monument was being reconstructed at its present site, Edmund Buchner and other scholars sketched what the panel may have looked like and this interpretation, although widely accepted, can not be proved correct, as so little of the original panel survives. The other panel is more controversial in its subject, but far better preserved, a goddess sits amid a scene of fertility and prosperity with twins on her lap. Scholars have variously suggested that the goddess is Italia, Tellus, Venus, due to the widespread depiction around the sculpture of scenes of peace, and because the Altar is named for peace, the favoured conclusion is that the goddess is Pax. The West Wall also contains two panels, the fragmentary Lupercal Panel apparently preserves the moment when Romulus and Remus were discovered by Faustulus the shepherd, while Mars looks on. Again this panel is a drawing without much evidence. Marble fragments of the tree and the head and shoulder of Mars and part of a second individual survive, but the addition of the she-wolf, Romulus, the better preserved scene depicts the sacrifice of a pig by an old priest and two attendants

45.
Aurelian Walls
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The Aurelian Walls are a line of city walls built between 271 AD and 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus. They superseded the earlier Servian Wall built during the 4th century BC, the walls enclosed all the seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and, on the right bank of the Tiber, the Trastevere district. The river banks within the city appear to have been left unfortified. The size of the enclosed area is 1,400 hectares. The full circuit ran for 19 kilometres surrounding an area of 13.7 square kilometres, the walls were constructed in brick-faced concrete,3.5 metres thick and 8 metres high, with a square tower every 100 Roman feet. In the 4th century, remodelling doubled the height of the walls to 16 metres, by 500 AD, the circuit possessed 383 towers,7,020 crenellations,18 main gates,5 postern gates,116 latrines, and 2,066 large external windows. By the third century AD, the boundaries of Rome had grown far beyond the area enclosed by the old Servian Wall, Rome had remained unfortified during the subsequent centuries of expansion and consolidation due to lack of hostile threats against the city. The citizens of Rome took great pride in knowing that Rome required no fortifications because of the stability brought by the Pax Romana and the protection of the Roman Army. However, the need for updated defences became acute during the crisis of the Third Century, when barbarian tribes flooded through the Germanic frontier and the Roman Army struggled to stop them. In 270, the barbarian Juthungi and Vandals invaded northern Italy, further trouble broke out in Rome itself in the summer of 271, when the mint workers rose in rebellion. Several thousand people died in the fighting that resulted. The construction of the walls was by far the largest building project that had taken place in Rome for many decades, the construction project was unusually left to the citizens themselves to complete as Aurelian could not afford to spare a single legionary for the project. The walls were built in the time of only five years. Progress was accelerated, and money saved, by incorporating existing buildings into the structure and these included the Amphitheatrum Castrense, the Castra Praetoria, the Pyramid of Cestius, and even a section of the Aqua Claudia aqueduct near the Porta Maggiore. As much as a sixth of the walls is estimated to have composed of pre-existing structures. An area behind the walls was cleared and sentry passages were built to enable it to be reinforced quickly in an emergency, the actual effectiveness of the wall is disputable, given the relatively small size of the citys garrison. The entire combined strength of the Praetorian Guard, cohortes urbanae, instead, they carried out hit-and-run raids against ill-defended targets. The wall was a deterrent against such tactics, parts of the wall were doubled in height by Maxentius, who also improved the watch-towers

46.
Baths of Caracalla
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The Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy, were the second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between AD212 and 217, during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They would have had to install over 2,000 t of material every day for six years in order to complete it in this time. Records show that the idea for the baths were drawn up by Septimius Severus and this would allow for a longer construction timeframe. Today they are a tourist attraction, the baths remained in use until the 6th century when the complex was taken by the Ostrogoths during the Gothic War, at which time the hydraulic installations were destroyed. The bath was free and open to the public, the earthquake of 847 destroyed much of the building, along with many other Roman structures. The building was heated by a hypocaust, a system of burning coal and it was in use up to the 19th century. The Aqua Antoniniana aqueduct, a branch of the earlier Aqua Marcia and it was most likely reconstructed by Garbrecht and Manderscheid to its current place. At the 1960 Summer Olympics, the hosted the gymnastics events. The baths were the archaeological site in Rome damaged by an earthquake near LAquila in 2009. They were again damaged, though minor, in August 2016 by an earthquake in central Italy, the baths were originally ornamented with high quality sculptures. One of the statues is the colossal 4 m statue of Asclepius. The Caracalla bath complex of buildings was more a leisure centre than just a series of baths, the baths were the second to have a public library within the complex. Like other public libraries in Rome, there were two separate and equal sized rooms or buildings, one for Greek language texts and one for Latin language texts. The baths consisted of a central frigidarium measuring 55.7 by 24 m under three groin vaults 32.9 m high, a double pool tepidarium, and a caldarium 35 m in diameter, the north end of the bath building contained a natatio or swimming pool. The natatio was roofless with bronze mirrors mounted overhead to direct sunlight into the pool area, the entire bath building was on a raised platform 6 m high to allow for storage and furnaces under the building. The libraries were located in exedrae on the east and west sides of the bath complex, the entire north wall of the complex was devoted to shops. The reservoirs on the wall of the complex were fed with water from the Marcian Aqueduct. The mithraeum was approximately 23 m long and 10 m wide with a cross-vaulted ceiling, the bath complex covered approximately 25 ha

47.
Castel Sant'Angelo
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The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel SantAngelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself, the building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The Castle was once the tallest building in Rome, the tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian, also called Hadrians mole, was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between 134 and 139 AD. Originally the mausoleum was a cylinder, with a garden top. Hadrians ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Much of the contents and decorations have been lost since the buildings conversion to a military fortress in 401. The use of spolia from the tomb in the period was noted in the 16th century — Giorgio Vasari writes. Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw a statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a season of the plague, Pope Gregory I heard that the populace. A vision urged the pope to lead a procession to the church, upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peters by the Aelian Bridge, the pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, leo X built a chapel with a Madonna by Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1536 Montelupo also created a statue of Saint Michael holding his sword after the 590 plague to surmount the Castel. Later Paul III built an apartment, to ensure that in any future siege the pope had an appropriate place to stay. Montelupos statue was replaced by a statue of the same subject, executed by the Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt. Verschaffelts is still in place and Montelupos can be seen in a court in the interior of the Castle

48.
Circus Maximus
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The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and it measured 621 m in length and 118 m in width and could accommodate over 150,000 spectators. In its fully developed form, it became the model for circuses throughout the Roman Empire, the site is now a public park. The Circus was Romes largest venue for ludi, public games connected to Roman religious festivals, ludi were sponsored by leading Romans or the Roman state for the benefit of the Roman people and gods. Most were held annually or at intervals on the Roman calendar. Others might be given to fulfill a vow, such as the games in celebration of a triumph. The earliest known triumph ludi at the Circus were vowed by Tarquin the Proud to Jupiter in the late Regal era for his victory over Pometia. The greater ludi at the Circus began with a flamboyant parade, much like the triumphal procession, during the Republic, the aediles organized the games. Although their original purpose was religious, the complexity of staging ludi became a way to display the competence, generosity, some Circus events, however, seem to have been relatively small and intimate affairs. In 167 BC, flute players, scenic artists and dancers performed on a temporary stage, others were enlarged at enormous expense to fit the entire space. A venatio held there in 169 BC, one of several in the 2nd century, employed 63 leopards and 40 bears and elephants, as Romes provinces expanded, existing ludi were embellished and new ludi invented by politicians who competed for divine and popular support. By the late Republic, ludi were held on 57 days of the year, on many other days, charioteers and jockeys would need to practice on its track. Otherwise, it would have made a convenient corral for the animals traded in the cattle market. Beneath the outer stands, next to the Circus multiple entrances, were workshops and shops, when no games were being held, the Circus at the time of Catullus was likely a dusty open space with shops and booths. A colourful crowded disreputable area frequented by prostitutes, jugglers, fortune tellers, Romes emperors met the ever-burgeoning popular demand for regular ludi and the need for more specialised venues, as essential obligations of their office and cult. Over the several centuries of its development, the Circus Maximus became Romes paramount specialist venue for chariot races, eventually,135 days of the year were devoted to ludi. With the advent of Christianity as the religion of the Empire. The last known beast-hunt at the Circus Maximus took place in 523, the Circus Maximus was sited on the level ground of the Valley of Murcia, between Romes Aventine and Palatine Hills